VANCOUVER - Team Canada won its first world wheelchair curling title Saturday at the new Vancouver Paralympic Centre.

The team of skip Jim Armstrong, third Darryl Neighbour, second Ina Forrest and lead Sonja Gaudet defeated Sweden 9-2 in seven ends in the gold medal game of the 2009 championships.

Germany, a newcomer to the event, took the bronze medal with a 6-4 victory over the U.S.

Despite dominating able-bodied curling, until Saturday Canada had never won the wheelchair championships, although the country did win the gold at the 2006 Turin Paralympics. In fact, Canada had not even made the podium at the last three championships.

Despite the loss, the silver medal was Sweden’s best-ever finish at the worlds.

The gold medal winning Canadian side is heavily weighted with B.C. athletes. Armstrong and Neighbour are both from Richmond while Forrest hails from Armstrong and Gaudet from Vernon. Coach Joe Rea is from Prince George. The only non-B.C. member of the team is Chris Sobkowicz of Winnipeg.

Canada, which placed fourth at last year’s world championships in Switzerland, started the week-long event slowly, losing three of its first five games. But a lineup switch which saw Gaudet insereted at lead seemed to spark the team. Team Canada won three of its last four round-robin matches then, in playoff action, defeated the U.S. 9-2 and Germany 10-4 before topping Sweden in the final.

The same venue will be host to the 2010 Paralympic Games curling event next March.

llittle@vancouversun.com

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Team Canada takes gold in wheelchair curling

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